Compactors such as, for example, landfill compactors and soil compactors typically include steel wheels, which are fitted with teeth that extend radially outward from the wheels to engage and compact material over which the compactors are driven. Over time, the teeth wear down, and they are replaced with newly manufactured teeth.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,632,045 to McCartney (“the '045 patent”) discloses an exemplary method of manufacturing a two-part tooth that is adapted to be welded to a steel wheel. The tooth includes a base constructed from a weldable material, and a cap constructed of a harder metal than the metal used for the base. According to the '045 patent, the tooth is manufactured by casting the base in a first mold, moving the base to a second mold, and casting the cap onto the base in the second mold. When casting the cap, molten metal flows into mating formations of the base, ensuring that the cap is firmly keyed to the base when the molten metal solidifies.
While the manufacturing method of the '045 patent may yield a tooth that is appropriate for certain applications, the tooth may not be well-suited for others. For example, the manufacturing method of the '045 patent may yield a tooth that is not well-suited for applications in which the tooth's weight stresses drivetrain components of a compactor without meaningfully improving compaction. In such applications, the tooth might cause premature failure of the drivetrain components, thereby unnecessarily increasing maintenance costs associated with the compactor.
The various embodiments of the present disclosure are directed toward overcoming one or more deficiencies of the prior art.